Sunday, February 08, 2009

Sorry Bibi, But We Can't Afford Your War

Is it un-American for the government to put a salary cap on the pay of executives scratching around congress for a handout? No, not really. Once you start asking the already overburdened US tax payer to subsidize your extravagant lifestyle, you should just shut the fuck up and take it like, well, a man, but according to Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
"Because of their excesses, very bad things begin to happen, like the United States government telling a company what it can pay its employees. That's not a good thing in America,"

Was it unAmerican for Wall St. demand that companies cut employee overhead or lose their stock value? A move that has left the US unemployment rate at the highest it's been in 16 years? (Which, coincidentally, was right after the last time we left Republicans in charge) I'm sure that if you were one of the over a half a million people laid off last month you might feel differently, especially if you knew that those jobs aren't coming back in a long time, and when they do, they'll be at a much lower rate of pay than what you were making on unemployment.
According to Joseph Stiglitz, the main cause for the economic slowdown that led to the recession, and in turn global depression has been the war in Iraq. The war has cost over half a trillion dollars so far, with no end in sight. We can no longer afford to subsidize the paranoia of Islamaphobes who think the solution to the problem is to drop bombs and shoot bullets, all of which costs taxpayer money. Money better spent on helping those hurt by the economic policies of the previous misadministration.
So even though there is no evidence that Iran is building any nuclear weapons, the soon-to-be PM of Israel Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu still wants the Obama administration to press Iran to stop it's perfectly legal and internationally sanctioned right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, or else Israel, ever the bastion of self-restraint (and such adherents to international law themselves) will strike at Iran.
The US taxpayer can no longer afford to support Israel's wars of aggression and ethnic cleansing, nor can they afford to pay the high oil costs that will be the inevitable result of Israel's cavalier attitude to obeying international law. Considering our new Secretary of State's pledged fealty to another country, I really don't see a change in our position on these matters from one administration to the next.

4 comments:

libhom said...

Kyl sure does spread his legs for his wealthy and corporate donors.

Anonymous said...

I really don't see a change in our position on these matters from one administration to the next.

I wish it were otherwise, but it certainly doesn't look like there's a whole lotta 'change' on that horizon.

libhom said...

Kvatch: If we want a change in that position, we will have to fight harder for it.

Tom Harper said...

If you're a member of the Demented Right, money spent on wars and corporate bailouts grows on trees. On the other hand, money spent to create jobs or provide a safety net, comes from those overburdened hardworking taxpayers; and we need to be very very thrifty with their money.